The present invention relates generally to the manufacture of paper with decorative edges, and in particular, to automated means for producing a so-called deckle-edged paper.
In the manufacture of hand made paper, conventional practice is to form individual sheets of paper in a wooden frame or the like. Upon separation of the frame for removal of the hand made sheet, it is conventional for the edges of the resulting sheet to take on an irregular or feathered appearance resulting from the manner in which the edges were retained between the sections of the paper-making frame. In addition to serving to identify hand made papers, which are very expensive, these feathered edges tend to provide an elegant finish. Consequently, efforts have been made to develop means for simulating such deckled edges in milled papers, to provide such papers with the appearance of a hand made paper, preferably in an automated process.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,692 describes an apparatus which operates to withdraw a web of milled paper from a continuous roll, for transport through the apparatus so that edges of the web are drawn across a pair of deckle-edge-simulating elements. Each of these elements includes a roller disposed transverse to, and beneath the web of paper as it is transported through the apparatus, and a tearing wire which crosses the plane of the paper and which is received within a groove provided in the transport roller. As a consequence of this construction, as the web of paper is drawn through the apparatus, the web is caused o encounter the tearing wire so that the paper is torn as the wire cuts across the plane of the paper, simulating a deckled edge.
British Patent No. 2,171,629 also describes an apparatus for simulating a deckled edge in a continuous web of paper. The described apparatus includes a conveyor for receiving the web of paper, and a contiguous tearing belt disposed about a series of pulleys so that the tearing belt is initially caused to progress parallel with the conveyor, and so that the tearing belt is thereafter caused to proceed downwardly through the plane of the web of paper. As a consequence of this construction, as the web of paper is drawn through the apparatus, the web is initially received between the parallel conveyor and tearing belt, until the web reaches the deflection point for the tearing belt. At this point, the edges of the web are drawn across the edges of the conveyor to develop a simulated deckled edge.
While each of these devices have found success in simulating a deckled edge in a continuous web of milled paper, such devices have generally required constant and careful adjustment to maintain the quality of the deckled edge being simulated. Otherwise, the quality of the deckled edge would tend to vary throughout the manufacturing process, at times unacceptably.
Moreover, recent advances in automated mailing procedures and devices have created a particular interest in the development of an automated apparatus for simulating a deckle-edged paper, not only for the contents to be mailed, but also on selected edges of the envelopes used to mail them. However, in attempting to produce sheets and blanks of this nature using available deckle-edge-simulating equipment, it was found that suitable results could not be obtained without requiring either a significant compromise in production rate, or continuous and careful adjustment of the deckle-edge-simulating apparatus.